Mysteries of the Multiverse

My last class was almost over. After 75 minutes of watching the clock, I only had 5 minutes left of this tedious physics lesson. A stern voice interrupted my fixed gaze on the clock.

“Jessica, are you listening to me?”

I wasn't.

To make something grim even worse, we’re being taught one of the worst topics; Quantum Mechanics. I couldn’t wait to drop this class and never do it again.

I counted down the last seconds of the class as the big hand of the clock approached 12.
3.. 2.. 1.. “RINNGGG”

Saved by the bell - time for the weekend! Finally, a break from thinking about entanglement or superposition or whatever the teacher was babbling on about. I was getting into Dad’s car and I felt a weird sensation; almost as though I was being watched. Confused, I quickly dismissed it, deciding it was nothing.

Chatting with Dad in the car, I forgot about the strange situation. That was until I heard a noise.
Again, I quickly dismissed it and just blamed it on my tiredness after the long week. I tuned back in to Dad’s conversation, until I was abruptly shocked from our chat. I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking round, I jumped. Someone was sitting in the back of the car.

She seemed familiar.
Was it… me? I rubbed my eyes, but still, the person mirrored myself.
The person in my car, was me.

Was my mind playing a trick on me? That physics lesson was really confusing after all. Had physics finally turned me mad?
No. I was adamant. There really was another version of me in my car. Did I have a secret twin that my parents forgot to tell me about?

“WHO ARE YOU? And... why are you in my car?”, I angrily shouted at my double.

“Sorry, I’m just SO excited! Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Jessie, and I’m a version of you from a different universe. I’m on a mission to save my universe. I’ve been travelling through the multiverse via wormholes in search of new universes that will be able to populate my race, because my universe is undergoing a crisis. ‘The BIG FREEZE’! We have too much dark energy, and it’s causing my universe to expand too rapidly, to the point where we have no light reaching our planet.”

I was clearly puzzled, but she continued at a rate of knots.

“So now I’m here, but I have a problem! There aren’t any wormholes in this universe, so I have no way of telling my family how to get here so I can’t save them.”, Jessie explained.

“Sorry, what?! Nothing you just said makes sense. Wormholes? Dark energy?” I pinched myself. Was I dreaming? Sadly not.

“Well, a wormhole is a shortcut through space-time. I’ve been travelling through different ones to find the optimum conditions for us. I have travelled through lots of universes for months, but none of them have been suitable. Most of them have too much dark energy, which is essentially anti-gravity, so no matter can form. The other ones have time in reverse, so the entropy is backwards compared to our universe’s. This is the first universe I’ve found where life would be suitable for my species, but the wormhole I travelled here by, collapsed. Because there are no wormholes here, I’m trapped, and can’t tell the people in my universe that it’s safe here.

This is where you come in! I need your help to create a new wormhole!” She finished her story, and gasped for air. I could tell she was worried.

“So... You’re telling me, that you came here from a different universe, through a wormhole, and now you’re stuck here?” I tried to make sense of all this new information.

“Yes, exactly!” she interjected.

“And, now you want me to help you create a new wormhole?”

“Coorrrrrect!”

“But… why me?”

“You’re the exact equivalent of me in your universe! I just figured you would love physics as much as me, and be the perfect companion!”

“Reeaally sorry to burst your bubble, but I hate physics and I don’t have the slightest clue about wormholes.”

“Oh. You hate Physics?”

I just nodded.

“Oh, I know what’s happened! When choosing a career path, did you flip a coin?”

“Yes?”

“Were your choices Medicine and Physics?”

“Yes?”

“And did it come up tails for Medicine?”

“Yes? How do you know this? This is really weird, Jessie.”

“I did the same thing! I flipped a coin between Medicine and Physics, but mine came up heads for Physics.”

“Okkayy, and?”

“Oh, my goodness, don’t you see?! This is proof of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics! This makes it even more important that I get back to my universe and tell them this!”

“Stop using all this physics lingo, I don’t understand anything you’re saying. What’s the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics? Just speak English, seriously.”

“Sorry! I keep forgetting you don’t love physics like me! You see, the many worlds interpretation states that all histories and futures that can happen will happen. If one event happens in this universe then the opposite of that event will happen in another universe. This is what has happened with us. I got heads for physics and you got tails for medicine. We are living proof that this interpretation is correct! Now, PLEASE say you’ll help me create a wormhole so I can get home.”

“I don’t know much about physics – I’ll be no help.”

“I can teach you! You’ve already learnt about wormholes and the multiverse, you’re basically halfway there! Now come on, there are only two possibilities: yes or no. Which one is it?”

Hesitant, but intrigued. “I suppose I can help you.” Jessie jumped up and down. This was the start of my very own physics adventure.

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Quantum Theory: A to Z

R is for ... Reality

Since the predictions of quantum theory have been right in every experiment ever done, many researchers think it is the best guide we have to the nature of reality. Unfortunately, that still leaves room for plenty of ideas about what reality really is!

M is for ... Many Worlds Theory

Some researchers think the best way to explain the strange characteristics of the quantum world is to allow that each quantum event creates a new universe.

U is for ... Uncertainty Principle

One of the most famous ideas in science, this declares that it is impossible to know all the physical attributes of a quantum particle or system simultaneously.

D is for ... Decoherence

Unless it is carefully isolated, a quantum system will “leak” information into its surroundings. This can destroy delicate states such as superposition and entanglement.

A is for ... Act of observation

Some people believe this changes everything in the quantum world, even bringing things into existence.

R is for ... Randomness

Unpredictability lies at the heart of quantum mechanics. It bothered Einstein, but it also bothers the Dalai Lama.

H is for ... Hawking Radiation

In 1975, Stephen Hawking showed that the principles of quantum mechanics would mean that a black hole emits a slow stream of particles and would eventually evaporate.

K is for ... Kaon

These are particles that carry a quantum property called strangeness. Some fundamental particles have the property known as charm!

B is for ... Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC)

At extremely low temperatures, quantum rules mean that atoms can come together and behave as if they are one giant super-atom.

P is for ... Probability

Quantum mechanics is a probabilistic theory: it does not give definite answers, but only the probability that an experiment will come up with a particular answer. This was the source of Einstein’s objection that God “does not play dice” with the universe.

F is for ... Free Will

Ideas at the heart of quantum theory, to do with randomness and the character of the molecules that make up the physical matter of our brains, lead some researchers to suggest humans can’t have free will.

P is for ... Planck's Constant

This is one of the universal constants of nature, and relates the energy of a single quantum of radiation to its frequency. It is central to quantum theory and appears in many important formulae, including the Schrödinger Equation.

W is for ... Wavefunction

The mathematics of quantum theory associates each quantum object with a wavefunction that appears in the Schrödinger equation and gives the probability of finding it in any given state.

E is for ... Entanglement

When two quantum objects interact, the information they contain becomes shared. This can result in a kind of link between them, where an action performed on one will affect the outcome of an action performed on the other. This “entanglement” applies even if the two particles are half a universe apart.

R is for ... Radioactivity

The atoms of a radioactive substance break apart, emitting particles. It is impossible to predict when the next particle will be emitted as it happens at random. All we can do is give the probability that any particular atom will have decayed by a given time.

U is for ... Universe

To many researchers, the universe behaves like a gigantic quantum computer that is busy processing all the information it contains.

S is for ... Schrödinger Equation

This is the central equation of quantum theory, and describes how any quantum system will behave, and how its observable qualities are likely to manifest in an experiment.

C is for ... Computing

The rules of the quantum world mean that we can process information much faster than is possible using the computers we use now.

J is for ... Josephson Junction

This is a narrow constriction in a ring of superconductor. Current can only move around the ring because of quantum laws; the apparatus provides a neat way to investigate the properties of quantum mechanics.

G is for ... Gluon

These elementary particles hold together the quarks that lie at the heart of matter.

S is for ... Schrödinger’s Cat

A hypothetical experiment in which a cat kept in a closed box can be alive and dead at the same time – as long as nobody lifts the lid to take a look.

N is for ... Nonlocality

When two quantum particles are entangled, it can also be said they are “nonlocal”: their physical proximity does not affect the way their quantum states are linked.

L is for ... Light

We used to believe light was a wave, then we discovered it had the properties of a particle that we call a photon. Now we know it, like all elementary quantum objects, is both a wave and a particle!

G is for ... Gravity

Our best theory of gravity no longer belongs to Isaac Newton. It’s Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. There’s just one problem: it is incompatible with quantum theory. The effort to tie the two together provides the greatest challenge to physics in the 21st century.

D is for ... Dice

Albert Einstein decided quantum theory couldn’t be right because its reliance on probability means everything is a result of chance. “God doesn’t play dice with the world,” he said.

X is for ... X-ray

In 1923 Arthur Compton shone X-rays onto a block of graphite and found that they bounced off with their energy reduced exactly as would be expected if they were composed of particles colliding with electrons in the graphite. This was the first indication of radiation’s particle-like nature.

Z is for ... Zero-point energy

Even at absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible, nothing has zero energy. In these conditions, particles and fields are in their lowest energy state, with an energy proportional to Planck’s constant.

B is for ... Bell's Theorem

In 1964, John Bell came up with a way of testing whether quantum theory was a true reflection of reality. In 1982, the results came in – and the world has never been the same since!

A is for ... Atom

This is the basic building block of matter that creates the world of chemical elements – although it is made up of more fundamental particles.

H is for ... Hidden Variables

One school of thought says that the strangeness of quantum theory can be put down to a lack of information; if we could find the “hidden variables” the mysteries would all go away.

C is for ... Cryptography

People have been hiding information in messages for millennia, but the quantum world provides a whole new way to do it.

T is for ... Tunnelling

This happens when quantum objects “borrow” energy in order to bypass an obstacle such as a gap in an electrical circuit. It is possible thanks to the uncertainty principle, and enables quantum particles to do things other particles can’t.

W is for ... Wave-particle duality

It is possible to describe an atom, an electron, or a photon as either a wave or a particle. In reality, they are both: a wave and a particle.

I is for ... Interferometer

Some of the strangest characteristics of quantum theory can be demonstrated by firing a photon into an interferometer: the device’s output is a pattern that can only be explained by the photon passing simultaneously through two widely-separated slits.

I is for ... Information

Many researchers working in quantum theory believe that information is the most fundamental building block of reality.

O is for ... Objective reality

Niels Bohr, one of the founding fathers of quantum physics, said there is no such thing as objective reality. All we can talk about, he said, is the results of measurements we make.

V is for ... Virtual particles

Quantum theory’s uncertainty principle says that since not even empty space can have zero energy, the universe is fizzing with particle-antiparticle pairs that pop in and out of existence. These “virtual” particles are the source of Hawking radiation.

Q is for ... Quantum biology

A new and growing field that explores whether many biological processes depend on uniquely quantum processes to work. Under particular scrutiny at the moment are photosynthesis, smell and the navigation of migratory birds.

A is for ... Alice and Bob

In quantum experiments, these are the names traditionally given to the people transmitting and receiving information. In quantum cryptography, an eavesdropper called Eve tries to intercept the information.

T is for ... Teleportation

Quantum tricks allow a particle to be transported from one location to another without passing through the intervening space – or that’s how it appears. The reality is that the process is more like faxing, where the information held by one particle is written onto a distant particle.

S is for ... Superposition

Quantum objects can exist in two or more states at once: an electron in superposition, for example, can simultaneously move clockwise and anticlockwise around a ring-shaped conductor.

L is for ... Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

At CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, this machine is smashing apart particles in order to discover their constituent parts and the quantum laws that govern their behaviour.

Y is for ... Young's Double Slit Experiment

In 1801, Thomas Young proved light was a wave, and overthrew Newton’s idea that light was a “corpuscle”.

Q is for ... Qubit

One quantum bit of information is known as a qubit (pronounced Q-bit). The ability of quantum particles to exist in many different states at once means a single quantum object can represent multiple qubits at once, opening up the possibility of extremely fast information processing.

M is for ... Multiverse

Our most successful theories of cosmology suggest that our universe is one of many universes that bubble off from one another. It’s not clear whether it will ever be possible to detect these other universes.